Socio-economic Impacts of Flooding on Urban Ecosystem in Southern Phnom Penh: A Case Study in Khan Kamboul, Dangkao, Pur Senchey and Mean Chey
2025
SEAK, Sophat | SOK, Ty | SPOANN, Vin | PHAT, Chandara | TEP, Makathy | ILAN, Ich | KAO, Chanbora | SEAK, Sreynoch
The increasing frequency and intensity of flooding, driven by climate change, are having a detrimental impact on Phnom Penh’s urban ecosystem. Disaster managers and decision-makers increasingly recognize the value of tools that can directly translate flood hazards—specifically, the extent of inundation during flood events—into estimates of expected socio-economic impacts, including affected populations and economic losses. While previous studies have often focused on broad-scale flood impacts at local or regional levels, this paper presents a straightforward approach for estimating impacts at a finer, more localized scale within the affected area, using flood hazard data and damage functions. This study aims to assess flood inundation areas and the direct economic losses resulting from flood events in the southern and southwestern parts of Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. The methodology involves applying Google Earth Engine (GEE) with Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to assess flooding, including the generation of flood extent and depth maps. These maps are then used as input for an impact assessment module, which translates the estimated flood extents and depths into quantitative assessments of socio-economic impacts. The results indicate that the inundation areas in the southern and southwestern urban areas of Phnom Penh reached 1,638 ha, with flood depths ranging from 0.5 to 6 m, during the October 2020 flood event. The total estimated economic damage was approximately USD 20 million. Agricultural areas were the most affected, followed by residential and commercial areas. This study provides a valuable tool for rapid assessment of urban flood impacts, offering crucial data on flood extent, depth, and economic consequences for urban policymakers and planners.
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